How Many Auto Workers Who Moved To Detroit Suburbs Ever Cared About What They Were Leaving Behind?

Above is a former Ford auto plant in Piquette Street industrial district of Detroit.

This Piquette Street area is on the list of the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Here is information about the Piquette Street Ford plant. Many famous car models were made at this plant.

Here is a link listing the plants and factories that once existed in this area.

I’ve been thinking today about how many auto workers moved to the Detroit suburbs without any care about the future of the City of Detroit. Many of them were content enough to leave that city in ever-growing poverty.

I’ve been thinking about how the Detroit suburb of Macomb County, Michigan was the heart of the so-called Reagan Democrat trend in the 1980’s (Though Mr. Obama did win the county in 2008.)

I don’t believe in karma, but it does seem that a number of things have caught up with Michigan’s auto workers.

I hope as many jobs stay as possible in the Michigan auto industry. If we don’t care about fellow working people, who will?

Yet at the same time, I’m not going to lose sight of what many of these workers were and are, and the attitudes they have held over the years.

Here is some history of Detroit from two people who clearly spent a great deal of time working on it. It is comprehensive and quirky and well worth a look.